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Saying "no" is hard. It's especially hard when you know someone wants
something so badly they can taste it, when they've prepared for years and feel that hope deep in their bones that this might be the place. This is a challenge of the call process that I hadn't really appreciated. I already knew from having hired employees that turning down prospects was both necessary and uncomfortable, especially when there were multiple well-qualified applicants for a single opening, but there's something about the call process that makes it different. Perhaps it's the amount of filtering that has already happened before we see a prospect's name. Perhaps it's how much they've invested in learning about our congregation before they even talk to us. Perhaps it's the possibility that this call would occupy them for the rest of their earthly life. But there's no "perhaps" about the feeling it leaves in my gut, a sort of über-FOMO despite my intellectual appreciation that we can say "yes" to at most one. At this time, we're at about page 28 (of 109) of the "Sierra Pacific Synod, ELCA Transition and Call Process Manual for Congregations in Transition." We conducted video interviews and met to discuss them in depth. After much thought, discussion, and prayer, we released those we couldn't envision at CGS from consideration so they might pursue other possibilities. We met on October 2nd to identify the topics we want to give priority in face-to-face interviews scheduled with the remaining candidates. We've been contacting references. By October 16th, we will have conducted the interviews, and will then meet to digest what we have learned and decide how we want to proceed from there. We ask for prayer: - that those we have released find calls well-suited to their most abundant gifts; - for the remaining candidates as they discern whether CGS would be right for them; - and for the Call Committee, that we might hear the Holy Spirit's prompting.
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Christ the Good ShepherdVarious editorials, articles, and other items of interest. Archives
September 2024
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